THE FUTURE OF TRADITIONAL FOOD

IN SAUDI ARABIA
Abdullah Salem Al-Ghamdi
Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University
Fifth Scientific Forum For King Abdulaziz University Students
(Submission No: A - 4698 )

Introduction

Results

The objective of the study was to predict the

future of traditional food in Saudi Arabia. The
study was conducted to find out the young
people's appreciation of their traditional food
and how professional they are in preparing
traditional dishes. This research seeks to focus
on the cultural and heritage aspects of food
rather than the health point of view. It also aims
to predict the future of our traditional food. And
it was conducted to find out the answer of these
questions:

Based on the findings, it became clear that our traditional food

needs more attention by the whole society or it will be forgotten
over the next years. Here are some of the results.
Q2: Do you think that the traditional
food will be forgetten over next years?
strongly disagree

12%

disagree

37%

neutral

Yes
34%

23%

agree
strongly agree

RQs:
1. What is the destiny of traditional food over
the next generations in Saudi Arabia?
2. Do Saudi people think that fast food and
ethnic food have an effect on traditional
food?
3. Is foreign food acceptable on Saudi diet?

Q5: Are you good at

preparing traditional dishes?

No
66%

21%
6%

Q15: Are ethnic food and fast food acceptable in

weddings and occasions?

19%
7%
strongly
agree

agree

15%

neutral

31%

disagree

28%

strongly
disagree

Materials & Methods

Discussion

This study depended on a survey method and

some articles. A 15-item questionnaire was
formulated and distributed to 300 Saudi people
(males and females) living in Jeddah to get
their opinions. The findings of the
questionnaire showed the diversity of people's
opinions in the issue. Some problems were
faced such as getting females opinions, I used
electronic questionnaire to overcome this
problem and many benefits were achieved.

A lot of Saudi people are interested in their culture and heritage, but
number of them are not. This study shows some facts about the Saudi
people's attentions in their culture especially in their traditional food.
About 27% of the participants think that our traditional food will be
forgotten. But in the other side about 49% of them don't agree. The
study also shows the lack of the proficiency of preparing traditional
food. Only 34% of the participants are good at preparing traditional
food. Most of the participants prefer presenting traditional food to
their guests. Most of them prefer buying from traditional restaurants
because they think that cooking at home wastes the time.

Conclusions & Recommendations

References

it's very clear that our traditional food future

needs more attention. The media, public
festivals and competitions are useful solutions
for helping our traditional food future. Why
don't we use the media to advertise our
heritage? And why don't we have public
competitions and festivals to show the young
people's proficiency in cooking?

Al-Ahmadi, F. (2002) The Hamburger Nation, AL Riyadh newspaper.

Bashish, M. 2009 Traditional Food and Globalization,
SCHLOSSER, E. (2002) Fast Food Nation, Penguin Book.

Acknowledgment
To my advisor, Dr. Sami Abou-seif,
To my parents and family,
To the participants in the study.